Optical fibers are key components in modern telecommunication systems. Basically, optical fibers are thin strands of glass capable of transmitting an optical signal containing a large amount of information over long distances with very low loss. In essence, an optical fiber is a small diameter waveguide comprising a core having a first index of refraction surrounded by a cladding having a second (lower) index of refraction. Typical optical fibers are made of high purity silica with minor concentrations of dopants to control the index of refraction.
Optical gratings are important elements for selectively controlling specific wavelengths of light within optical systems such as optical communication systems. Such gratings include Bragg gratings and long period gratings. Such gratings typically comprise a body of material and a plurality of substantially equally spaced optical grating elements such as index perturbations, slits or grooves. Switchability and reconfigurability would both be highly useful in these gratings.
A typical Bragg grating comprises a length of optical waveguide, such as optical fiber, including a plurality of perturbations in the index of refraction substantially equally spaced along the waveguide length. These perturbations selectively reflect light of wavelength .lambda. equal to twice the spacing .LAMBDA. between successive perturbations times the effective refractive index, i.e. .lambda.=2n.sub.eff.LAMBDA., where .lambda. is the vacuum wavelength and n.sub.eff is the effective refractive index of the propagating mode. The remaining wavelengths pass essentially unimpeded. Such Bragg gratings have found use in a variety of applications including filtering, adding and dropping signal channels, stabilization of semiconductor lasers, reflection of fiber amplifier pump energy, and compensation for waveguide dispersion.
Waveguide Bragg gratings are conventionally fabricated by doping a waveguide core with one or more dopants sensitive to ultraviolet light, e.g., germanium or phosphorous, and exposing the waveguide at spatially periodic intervals to a high intensity ultraviolet light source, e.g., an excimer laser. The ultraviolet light interacts with the photosensitive dopant to produce long-term perturbations in the local index of refraction. The appropriate periodic spacing of perturbations to achieve a conventional grating can be obtained by use of a physical mask, a phase mask, or a pair of interfering beams.
Difficulties with conventional Bragg gratings are that they are essentially permanent and they filter only a fixed wavelength. Each grating selectively reflects only light in a narrow bandwidth centered around m.lambda.=2n.sub.eff.LAMBDA., where m =1,2,3, . . . is the order of the grating. However in many applications, such as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), it is desirable to have gratings which can be switched on and off and reconfigurable gratings whose wavelength response can be controllably altered.
Long-period fiber grating devices provide wavelength dependent loss and may be used for spectral shaping. A long-period grating couples optical power between two copropagating modes with very low back reflections. It typically comprises a length of optical waveguide wherein a plurality of refractive index perturbations are spaced along the waveguide by a periodic distance .LAMBDA.' which is large compared to the wavelength .lambda. of the transmitted light. In contrast with conventional Bragg gratings, long-period gratings use a periodic spacing .LAMBDA.' which is typically at least 10 times larger than the transmitted wavelength, i.e. .LAMBDA.'.gtoreq.10.lambda.. Typically .LAMBDA.' is in the range 15-1500 micrometers, and the width of a perturbation is in the range 1/5.LAMBDA.' to 4/5.LAMBDA.'. In some applications, such as chirped gratings, the spacing .LAMBDA.' can vary along the length of the grating.
Long-period fiber grating devices selectively remove light at specific wavelengths by mode conversion. In contrast with conventional Bragg gratings in which light is reflected and stays in the waveguide core, long-period gratings remove light without reflection, as by converting it from a guided mode to a non-guided mode. A non-guided mode is a mode which is not confined to the core, but rather, is defined by the entire waveguide structure. Often, it is a cladding mode. The spacing .LAMBDA.' of the perturbations is chosen to shift transmitted light in the region of a selected peak wavelength .lambda..sub.p from a guided mode into a nonguided mode, thereby reducing in intensity a band of light centered about the peak wavelength .lambda..sub.p. Alternatively, the spacing .LAMBDA.' can be chosen to shift light from one guided mode to a second guided mode (typically a higher order mode), which is substantially stripped off the fiber to provide a wavelength dependent loss. Such devices are particularly useful for equalizing amplifier gain at different wavelengths of an optical communications system.
Conventional long-period gratings are also permanent and they filter only a fixed wavelength. Each long-period grating with a given periodicity (.LAMBDA.') selectively filters light in a narrow bandwidth centered around the peak wavelength of coupling, .lambda..sub.p. This wavelength is determined by .lambda..sub.p =(n.sub.g -n.sub.ng).multidot..LAMBDA.', where n.sub.g and n.sub.ng are the effective indices of the core and the cladding modes, respectively. The value of n.sub.g is dependent on the core and cladding refractive index while n.sub.ng is dependent on core, cladding and ambient indices.
In the future, multi-wavelength communication systems will require reconfiguration and reallocation of wavelengths among the various nodes of a network depending on user requirements, e.g., with programmable add/drop elements. This reconfiguration will impact upon the gain of the optical amplifier. As the number of channels passing through the amplifier changes, the amplifier will start showing deleterious peaks in its gain spectrum, requiring modification of the long-period grating used to flatten the amplifier. Modifying the long-period grating implies altering either the center wavelength of the transmission spectrum or the depth of the coupling.
Thus, there is a need for switchable and reconfigurable Bragg gratings and long period gratings.